Health

The opinions below are those of the writer and not necessarily those of all NerdsinBabeland contributors.

This weekend I spent a lot of time wanting to play Skyrim, but, being the GOOD WIFE that I am, I let my husband play MW3. Unfortunately Target was out of PS3 copies, it was pouring rain out and I bought it for 360. This meant that we both had new games on the 360 and couldn’t move one system into the bedroom (the first-gen 360 we have is living in the little one’s room because the controls for Lego Star Wars 3 are much better than on his Wii). So I sat on the couch crocheting and watching Misfits on Hulu (if you haven’t watched it go NOW it’s AWESOME).

Of course we all know that Hulu has commercials and one commercial jumped out at me.

Normally I just ignore commercials, but at the very end I noticed the brain soap. And immediately recognized it as one of the soaps from Luxury Lane Soap. I hopped on twitter and asked if this was so and was told that yes, it was her soap being included in the commercial. I.Was.Livid. I happen to know for a FACT that all of the soaps from Luxury Lane are made from FAR purer ingredients than Ivory’s. The fact that they would insinuate otherwise is UNACCEPTABLE!

They have taken beautifully crafted soaps made from actual pure ingredients and called them “un-pure”. Now I know that the laws are different than they used to be. Pepsi can take pot shots at Coke and vice versa, so I don’t know that it is illegal for Ivory to have taken these soaps from hard working, small time soap makers for their commercial. But it is certainly wrong for them to state in their commercial that the items are anything less than they are. Which is, pure, handcrafted soaps from the most environmentally friendly ingredients (at least in the case of Luxury Lane, as I am not familiar with the other soaps) available, made by individuals in their homes, or home shops, specifically FOR YOU.

Kylee Lane, owner and operator of Luxury Lane made the following video in response.

Lets compare ingredients; Ivory.com redirects you to facebook. They have no website of their own so I had to rely on Wikipedia for their ingredients.

What’s that you say? Sodium Tallowate is RENDERED BEEF FAT? That’s just what I want I think of when I think “pure”. Oh baby, do you like my beef fat clean skin? Yes I am aware that most commercial soaps include this, this is why I only purchase soap from sellers who do NOT. I’m not vegetarian or vegan or anything of the sort (not that it is wrong if you are). I just don’t like the idea of washing my body with beef fat.

Now really, I don’t mind when the big dogs go after one another in their advertising. They have HUGE budgets and legal teams and such. These individual sellers do not. And it is horribly unfair of Ivory to be taking pot shots at them!

Please if you know any of the other sellers included in the video leave a comment and I will update this post so that everyone can go and purchase from THEM instead of Ivory. Let’s use the power of the internet and community for good and send a message to Ivory that we do not appreciate their marketing tactic.

Presented by trauma psychologist, Dr. Andrea Letamendi, author of The Psychology of Superheroes, Dr. Robin Rosenberg, Dr. Travis Langley and comics writer Len Wein, the panel was a discussion of how trauma is portrayed in comics and how superheroes deal with trauma. This is a topic that I find fascinating for a number of reasons. I went into the panel not quite knowing what to expect beyond the fact that trauma or tragedy is very often presented as the catalyst for a character’s development in comics. Trauma is something the audience hasn’t necessarily experienced, but can empathize with. Unfortunately, there are people who deal with trauma on a daily basis: Soldiers and other service-members, police officers, fire fighters and EMS personnel. There are questions about how trauma affects characters. Why does one character become a superhero and one a supervillain? (The answer is fairly simple: every villain is the hero of his or her story.) Watching footage of IED (improvised explosive device) explosions, it’s not hard to imagine that days, weeks, months and years of exposure to those circumstances can and does alter both military and civilians exposed to it, in profound ways.

Image Courtesy of Doomlurker on Batman Wikia

One of the characters in comics with a backstory that many of us can relate to is Batman. Sure, Bruce Wayne is incredibly rich, but he’s also witnessed his parents’ violent murder. Trauma to a child is something most of us feel sympathetic towards, and the desire to both avenge his parents and protect others from experiencing the same or similar loss is one most of us would hope we’d have. Heroism isn’t about the trauma, but about empathy and how that trauma is synthesized into the victim’s experience. Peter Parker/Spiderman is another good example of how plausible trauma is used in comics to give a character the imperative to use their powers for good. “With great power comes great responsibility,” is the echo throughout his early days as the web-slinger, and they make all the difference in the world.

I’m very glad that there was a distinction made between Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and the experience of trauma. Not everyone who experiences trauma will experience PTSD. (Additionally, there are distinct phases to PTSD, and not everyone experiences it the same way.) This was not a panel that was glossing over aspects of trauma, but presenting it in a way that can be understood by laymen. Every comic fan has seen numerous depictions of trauma, even if they didn’t name it trauma. I’m also very glad to note that this wasn’t a glossy pep talk about the effects of trauma and how to buck up under pressure. This was a very serious look at trauma through the lens of comics.

One thing I found lacking was the discussion of women as trauma survivors and the reliance in comics on using sexual violence against women. While statistically speaking, sexual and domestic violence are the most common forms of violence women will experience, we have plenty of women in the military. Many of those women have not only experienced the trauma of war, but sexual violence as well. Comics rarely show the arc of how a woman like Barbara Gordon transitions from Batgirl to trauma survivor to Oracle. Harley Quinn, at the other end of the spectrum, is psychologically abused over time by the Joker, and provides a prime example of how trauma doesn’t have to be particularly violent. I think there’s a need to go beyond accepting that fridging and sexual assault/murder of women provides the impetus for Hal Jordan or Frank Castle to go to some very dark places. (Although, as noted by the panel, Frank Castle was already on the anti-social personality disorder spectrum, before he became The Punisher.) Many of the questions asked by the audience also focused far more on male characters than on the spectrum of characters in comics that have been brutalized in any number of ways, from heroes and villains to innocent bystanders.

Oracle Image Courtesy of Wikipedia

This may seem like a strange topic for a panel at a comic convention. I found it a refreshing way of looking at not only a medium that has become an intrinsic part of our collective consciousness, but at a mental health issue that has been placed front and center by current events.

In the last decade, the US has joined much of the rest of the world in experiencing the trauma of terrorism, while the suicide rates for veterans is shockingly high. One in five women (based on current reported incidents) are expected to experience sexual violence in their lifetime. As I type this, rape is being used as a tactic of war in the Congo and Sudan. Trauma is something that happens every day. It happens to people we know, it happens to our families, it happens to us. Comics as a medium are in a unique position to not only present trauma as something that can be survived, but to show how that happens. In my opinion, comics have potential as a treatment tool, giving survivors a connection to characters they recognize and admire. The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee helped to have a comic about Martin Luther King and nonviolent social change printed in Arabic and Farsi for distribution in the Middle East. Why couldn’t a comic about trauma be used in a similar way wherever it was needed?

As each person or character is a unique individual, responses to trauma will vary. Specifics of why one individual will survive, and another won’t aren’t set in stone. Why one individual becomes Batman, one The Punisher, one the Joker, and one Two-Face is more complex than examining the trauma or the person experiencing it.

These are questions that will continued to be asked by the psychiatric, psychology, and neuropsych fields for a long time. They’re questions human beings face every day, and they are questions that anyone who reads comics has seen posed for a long time. Will comics continue to evolve in how they portray the narratives of the trauma inflicted on protagonists and villains alike? I don’t know the answer to that, yet. I hope they do and I hope that more fans and mainstream media will look at the parallels between comic narratives and real life. Perhaps if we think about those narratives, we can act with more empathy towards those people we encounter every day, who have survived or may struggle with the aftermath of trauma.

I left the panel thinking that there is a lot more discussion to be had and that I would love to see comic creators talk to trauma specialists and survivors a little more, as the subject is so integral to so much of their work.

SO. People are kicking the bucket left and right. A mysterious blight on your community is wiping out entire families, smothering them in the night, when no human could be doing so. You and your fellow villagers have your suspicions that you’re dealing with a vampire–but what do you do now that you know? It’s not as easy as waiting for him to rise from the grave and staking him through the heart, particularly if this is not something you’ve done before. Here are some tips and tricks for helping you hunt down these foul creatures.

TIP #1 Trying to track an anonymous vampire plaguing your village, but can’t seem to figure out who it is? Try walking a pure white horse over the graves of the recently-deceased members of your village, particularly those who have died before their time (either as a result of pestilence, tragic accident, or particularly drowning and suicide). Extremely sensitive to these agents of Satan, your horse should be able to locate any vampire in a snap! Not sure that you’ve got the right guy? Once disinterred, signs of vampirism should be evident: a swollen, surprisingly well-preserved corpse that often bleeds excessively when punctured and nails and hair that have continued to grow past death. Vampirism often runs in the family, so for extra safety, be sure to check out the graves of other deceased relatives–and almost certainly if they’ve died by the hand of the vampires in question.

TIP #2 Vampires cannot enter a clean house; it therefore stands to reason that, in order to keep them out, keep your digs in order. On the other hand, this can be a convenient vampire trap: allow your home to fall into disrepair and just wait for the full moon. You just might catch him red-handed (and fanged)! As a bonus, vampires have a compulsive need to organize things, so, wait a few minutes after the vampire has entered your home to take any action, and you may well end up with a clean house in addition to a slain creature of the underworld.

TIP #3 While on the hunt, carry around a light but messy snack, like sunflower seeds, trail mix, or even M&M’s (an interesting futuristic chocolate candy that melts in your mouth, not in your hand). Much like they compulsively organize, vampires are afflicted with arithmomania and love to count things, so you can scatter your snack to distract your arithmomaniac nemesis and run in a pinch–and if you don’t end up needing it, at least you’ll be left with a delicious snack!

TIP #4 Speaking of delicious snacks, is famine wreaking havoc upon your village? No problem! The best way to truly be rid of a vampire is to cut its head off, remove its heart, and burn it (and the human heart is notoriously difficult to burn). But here’s the convenient part–the most surefire way to be done with it is to feed the leftover heart to the vampire’s living victims and relatives. Empty stomachs won’t be a problem anymore! Talk about your heart healthy recipes.

TIP #5 Being tracked by a particularly nasty vampire you just can’t seem to shake? If the situation has become particularly foul, you can ward him (or her) off by smearing yourself with his blood. Just keep in mind that this is only for the most extreme situations, as this action may well make you susceptible to becoming a vampire yourself.

REMEMBER: No matter your certainty that you’re dealing with an actual vampire epidemic that had to be quelled before it got out of hand, the church does not officially recognize the existence of vampires and will not look fondly upon your nighttime exploits–so, if they start poking around, lie (unless you like serving time). Don’t believe me? Just ask our friends from Lastovo Island. Even if your local clergyman is behind you, do not mistake his support for that of the church at large. Be extra careful–it only takes one person to squeal and everyone involved will be excommunicated if not much worse. Still, it’s a small price to pay for ridding your home of the scourge of evil.

So, Nike commissioned something called the Nike 78 project, letting 78 artists take their shoes to innovate and completely change their shoe.. the article is here… and right below is the video to show how it works.. ENJOY!!!

Hello all.. I am going to try and show you how exercising can be fun as well as beneficial to your health. Today’s topic is the Wii. We all know it well. Host to many amazing innovations in gaming with their crazy controllers and add on controllers through the years. There was wheel that revolutionized Mario Kart and a gun holder you could put your regular controller in to help with FPS games. There was also an awesome board they introduced to help make the interactive experience come to life. The Wii Board helped bridge the gap between gaming and exercise I feel and even made getting into shape fun. These are my experiences with this idea and how it might be helpful for you too.

As the Wii gained popularity through the years they began to change their target audience to the senior generation by promoting exercise and better hand-eye coordination through their Wii Play games. Eventually they moved onto women with the Wii Fit. Oh the Wii Fit! That little on screen board is my workout friend, although some would say it does yell at you if you fluctuate your weight too much. Basically the idea behind the Wii Fit was to help promote balance and help you get in shape through prolonged low impact exercises. Each time you turn it on you were greeted by the little Wii Board and you could weigh yourself or play mini games and it would keep track of how long you would work out. The best thing is you could set up goals for yourself and it would track your daily progress, as long as you would use it that is.

I found the Wii Fit to be very fun and beneficial to helping me get off my lazy ass and actually getting fit enough to have energy and want to do more intense workouts. I definitely say that is a gem worth your time if you are just starting out. The games are fun and range from step aerobics to hula hoop. I really gravitated to this originally because it helped me with Yoga. The board gives you a chance to hold your position and measure how much weight you are putting on each leg to give you a more accurate idea of how to improve your stances. There are even balance games that make you forget that you are even working out. The on screen people are motivational and there are some pretty fun tips. The more time you log the more games you can unlock and it is definitely going to keep your interest for a while. Like anything though it will get old and you will have unlocked all the games and it might be time for something new.

So, you are more balanced then you were before and you are still looking to workout at home and inside then you can upgrade to the Wii Fit Plus, which has more games and fun. This one actually steps it up a notch and gives you a chance to go even further then before. There are new options to help you keep track of your fitness, like tracking how many calories you are burning and instead of choosing specifically which workouts you want to do there are actually predetermined routines to help you have a consistent flowing workout. The mini games are still way fun and help you gain better hand-eye coordination and balance. I guarantee that as you unlock the rest of these games you not only will be having fun, but you will be getting healthy and more in shape.

If these still aren’t intense enough for you or maybe you made it through those games and you want more then I would say you can step up to the EA Sports Active. This takes the gaming we have been having fun with through aerobics and balance and steps it up even more by adding more of an exercise element to it. You are able to start a plan called the 30 day challenge,

where you can basically spend 30 or so minutes 4 to 5 times a week going through what the game picks for you to do. I actually went through and did this challenge on the most difficult setting there is and after every work out I was sweating and actually felt like I went to the real gym. It is still fun but it definitely takes it up a notch. The sensitivity for some of the workouts are more intense and you are doing more strength training. There are easy modes and easier workouts if you want to create your own routine to follow but I will say that if you want to have a personal trainer in your home I would go for this awesome exercise experience. It also adds a couple of elements to make your workout more intense. You now have a leg strap that you place the nunchuck in when you are doing jogging exercise or squats and you also have a resistance band to help you simulate lifting weights, which you can always simulate further if you make the band smaller.

There was an extension to the EA Sports Active that adds 30 new exercises and 6 new activities to go through. I think what I liked most about this is it is an add on so you can incorporate your old exercises with the new ones. Another thing that is cool is you can keep a daily diary to help you stay in shape through exercise but also keep track of your diet as well. It really helps stress how health is an overall experience that isn’t just about working out, but also about how you eat and treat your body by making sure you get enough rest. The reason this is my favorite is because you can basically create a virtual you that mimics your every move while you make it, like a cyber mirror.

There are plenty of exercise games that have come out since these such as The Biggest Loser, Gold’s Gym Cardio and even kids workout games like Active Life-Extreme Challenge. This console has spawned an entire workout community that would never have existed and even some of the people who were used to using workout tapes have switched to this when their favorite video trainers have gone to the Wii, like Jillian Michaels. Classically I feel like our generation hasn’t been one to be workout obsessed but I think that this gives us all a chance to get a little more in shape without killing ourselves and also while having fun. When I started using the games I mentioned I had not been an active person for many years and this jumpstarted me to wanting to be more healthy but in a more moderate sense. I feel now that as time goes on the games we play are going to promote exercise more discreetly and we will be getting off the couch to get more involved in our games. I can’t wait to get and review the Playstation Move and Xbobx Kinetic because they are totally getting on board with this idea. So, thanks Wii for paving the way!

(Now if only they could get me a DDR in my house I would be set.. haha)

This is what Grandma’s Boy was trying to convey.. and I am jealous of it..

So, I don’t normally want to use this site to request monies and this isn’t necessarily intended to do just that. Jane Espenson shared this story on Twitter and I thought I at least owed it to this fellow Nerdy Girl to share it here:

“Theirs was not your average love story. Kevin Pratt and Tashi King got married young, in an age when people tend to wait. The wedding was so small, they didn’t even tell their immediate family. They served pie instead of cake — and the bride wore red.

They were perfect for each other.

But in just a few short months, the fairytale turned into a nightmare. The economic downturn gripping Arizona cost Kevin his job at an architecture firm. Tashi, who worked for a real estate company, was cut back to part-time.

And rather than roll with the tough times, Kevin faltered. He was depressed. He complained of headaches. He said he was tired, even though he didn’t seem to do anything.

Sometimes, Tashi would come home from work and find that he’d slept all day. He’d be confused, she says. “He thought I’d just left.””

Later on the article goes on to describe how Kevin was diagnosed with an extremely rare form of cancer:

“Kevin’s cancer came in an unusual form, especially for a 24-year-old. Only two to three cases of gliobastloma multiforme are diagnosed per 100,000 North Americans. Most of those are in men over 50.

It’s also an unusually aggressive cancer. It is almost always fatal. Without treatment, the median survival time for a patient diagoned with glioblastoma multiforme is three months. With treatment, a “lucky” patient might get two years.”

Anyway, there is a lot more to the article and if you have some spare time you should go read it. If nothing else, send @redtapelass good thoughts and prayers. If you have any extra money (which I know is asking a lot in these tough economic times), Tashi informed me that his Frat boys have a fundraiser (The Paper Crane Project) and there is a paypal donation account that is linked to their webpage (http://washandtashi.blogspot.com/)